Research on flexural bearing capacity of cold-formed thin-walled steel and reinforced concrete sandwich composite slabs

The aim of this paper is to study the mechanical behaviors of the cold-formed thin-walled steel and reinforced concrete sandwich composite slab (CTS&RC-SCS) under vertical loads and to develop the calculation methods of its flexural bearing capacity and section stiffness. Two CTS&RC-SCS specimens were designed and manufactured to carry out the static loading test, and meanwhile, the numerical simulation analyses based on finite element method were implemented. The comparison between experimental results and numerical analysis results shows that the CTS&RC-SCS has good flexural capacity and ductility, and the accuracy and rationality of the numerical simulation analysis are verified. Further, the variable parameter analysis results indicate that neither increasing the concrete strength grade nor increasing the thickness of C-sections can significantly improve the flexural capacity of CTS&RC-SCS. With the increase of the ratio of longitudinal bars and the thickness of the composite slab, the flexural capacity of CTS&RC-SCS will be significantly increased. On the basis of experimental research and numerical analysis above, the calculation formula of the flexural capacity of CTS&RC-SCS was deduced according to the plastic section design theory, and section stiffness calculation formula was proposed according to the theory of transformed section. In terms of the ultimate flexural capacity and mid-span deflection, the calculated values based on the formulas and the experimental values are in good agreement.